Winter's End
by heavensboy
Summary: It's ten years after the battle, and Draco Malfoy is longing to be with the he loves. I'm not good at summaries, so I'll just leave it at that. Rated T for slash
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the following characters, they are all J.K. Rowling's**

**WARNING: Slash, so rated T**

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><p>Chapter 1 - Spring<p>

He couldn't believe that Hermione invited him to her birthday party. Thinking about it, he wasn't even going to come, until he heard who was going to be here. Draco looked across the room, past the mass of dancing couples, at Harry. He was laughing at something the ginger kid said. What was his name again? Oh yeah, Ron Weasley, one of the seven Weasley kids who had attended Hogwarts.

He couldn't believe that Harry was the same as he was ten years ago, the year before the Battle had happened. Standing up, he wondered if Harry still thought about it every day, remembering the screams and the painful bursts of light flashing around him. As he turned to go, he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to notice where he was going; he walked straight into a waiter carrying a tray laden with champagne glasses. The waiter fumbled, the tray dropped with a clang and the glasses smashed on the polished wooden floor.

"Oh sh-," Draco started, but then remembered he was trying to cut back on his swearing. "-oot! Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Yeah, of course. Nothing to do with the fact that I'm a filthy Mudblood, is it?" the waiter spat, crouching down to clear up the mess. Taking a quick look around the room, Draco saw that nearly everyone was looking his way. Stunned, he apologised again and walked off quickly. So they still remember, he thought to himself. Even after ten years.

"Hey, Draco!"

He turned and smiled a little when he saw that it was Harry. He waited as Harry jogged up to him.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but what the hell are you doing? The party doesn't finish 'til twelve." Draco started walking again, Harry keeping up beside him. "And what about Ron?"

"Oh, Ron's with Hermione." They both laughed; nothing more had to be said about the two. "and I wanted to make sure you're okay. People really need to learn to forgive and forget or whatever." Harry looked at him and Draco saw genuine concern there, even after the years at Hogwarts.

"I'm fine," Draco replied curtly, striding off into the car park.

"Evidently not," Harry muttered to himself before following him, seeing him stamping his feet and cursing. "What's the matter?" Hestifled a laugh.

"I forgot I didn't drive here, I took the bus. And there isn't one which goes straight back to my house."

"I could take you back if you want, where do you live?"

"24 Turnaround Street. Is that okay?"

"Yep. I've been wondering who the mysterious new neighbour was." Harry grinned. "I live at number 25."

"Oh right." Draco looked around. "So where's your car?"

Harry laughed. "Are you really forgetting that we're wizards, Malfoy?"

For some reason, when Harry called him by his surname it didn't sound like an insult, like when they were in school. Harry grabbed his hand and he felt the blood rush to his face, hoping that it was dark enough to conceal it.

"But what about the mug-!" he started to yell before there was a loud crack and they appeared outside his house.

"-gles," Draco finished, taking a quick glance at Harry, who just laughed. "Anyway, I suppose I should invite you in for tea as way of thanks, shouldn't I?" He unlocked the door and motioned for Harry to go in first, closing it behind him with a muffled click as he stepped through after Harry.

Leading him to the kitchen, Draco was aware of how close behind Harry he was, although he made no attempt to protect his personal space. Arriving at the kitchen, he gestured at the chairs as he put the kettle on.

"Take a seat, make yourself comfortable." As he waited for the water to boil, he looked at Harry, who was gazing around the kitchen, and lost himself in those bright green eyes. It was only a moment later that he realised Harry was looking right back at him. Draco started and twisted round to start making tea. While Draco's back was turned, Harry quickly vanished all the chairs but one: the one closest to where he was sitting.

"Here you g - " Draco frowned. He remembered there being more chairs here the last time he came in. "What did you do, Harry?"

"Nothing," Harry replied, reaching out for the tea, but Draco pulled it away.

"Nuh-uh. Not until you tell me what happened."

"Oh for Merlin's sake, just sit down,Malfoy. It just felt like there were too many chairs so I vanished some." They looked at each other. Finally accepting the explanation Draco dropped himself into the chair. They both sat in silence, not feeling the need to fill it. Eventually, Draco spoke up.

"Harry."

"Hm?" Harry looked up at him.

"Why did you save me that night in the Room of Requirement, when Crabbe conjured the Fiendfyre?"

"I'm too nice to let people die like that," Harry answered with a grin.

"Come on, I'm being serious here."

Harry laughed. "Well, you're not doing a good job of it. You need to dye your hair black and grow it out a bit..."

"Ha, very funny." He sighed in exasperation. "Fine, whatever, I give up. You know where the door is right? I won't see you out then. Bye Harry." As he turned to leave, he felt a hand on his arm. He smiled to himself, not believing that it actually worked. He wiped the smile off his face before turning around, jumping slightly when he saw Harry's face only inches away from his own.

"Look, the truth is..." Harry hesitated for a while before his old Gryffindor courage kicked in. "The truth is I love you Draco, and have done since I first saw you."

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><p><strong>AN: Thank you for reading this, it's my first fanfic so please review, even if it's only a sentence or two =)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to all of you who reviewed and put my story on your alerts! It means alot to me, so here's a free hug *hugs* =D **

**Also, thank you to my beta, eleventy7, for correcting my mistakes =)  
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**Warning: Slash**

**Here's Chapter 2 then =)**

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><p>Chapter 2 – Summer<p>

Draco reeled back. That wasn't the answer he was expecting. "So... you love me?"

Harry only nodded, afraid that he'd just ruined their friendship.

"Is that why you rejected my offer of being friends in the first year at Hogwarts?"

"Oh, no, that was all true." He laughed at Draco's expression. "But that didn't mean I couldn't find you hot."

For the second time that night, Draco felt the blood rush to his face, only this time it was in a well-lit room and he couldn't hide it from Harry. "I thought you were straight though? I mean, you've kissed Cho and Ginny, and went out with one of them for like, a year, didn't you?"

"Yeah, well I was in denial back then." It was Harry's turn to become flushed.

"Does Ginny know?"

"About me being gay? Yes. She saw me checking out guys as we walked past them, and finally decided to confront me about it. She was alright with it though, and we're still friends." He looked thoughtful, eyes slightly glazed, so Draco decided to shut up and just look at Harry. Oh just tell him you love him too, Draco thought to himself. He didn't understand why he couldn't bring it up, seeing as Harry had already started the topic.

"HarryIloveyoutoo," Draco blurted out, eyes wide open at what he'd just done. He was glad that his father wasn't here; he was acting so un-Malfoy-like.

Harry looked up, apparently not hearing him. "Huh?"

"Harry, I love you too." He reached out, taking Harry's hands lightly and, deciding to act on instinct, leaned over and brushed his lips over Harry's. He felt Harry tense as soon as he'd done that, and started panicking. "Oh crap, Harry I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"Draco - "

"I know, it was really forward of me, and I'm really sorry, you need to know that!" Draco finally shut up when Harry grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him forward into a kiss. Calming down, he kissed Harry back just as strongly. When he felt the other boy pull away, he moaned softly. "Why did you have to stop?"

"You're really cute when you go all pouty like that you know." He laughed as Draco tried to stop himself pouting, and gave him a quick peck on the lips, successfully transforming it into a smile. "Look, it's getting late and I need to be heading back now."

"Oh, fine. I'll probably see you tomorrow anyway." He smiled as he led Harry to the front door. Waving, he watched as Harry jumped over the little fence separating the two front lawns and let himself into his own house.

Draco bedroom, all the while thinking about a particular green-eyed wizard who lived next door. He couldn't believe that he and Harry were going out at last. _Wait_, Draco thought. _Are we going out? I know we both said we love each other but we didn't exactly say anything about being boyfriends..._ He made his mind up. _I'll just ask him when I next see him, hopefully tomorrow_. After a long night of fantasizing about Harry, Draco finally fell asleep with a smile still pasted on his face.

When Draco woke up the next day it was to the sound of loud knocking on the front door. Rubbing sleep out of his eyes, he yawned as he opened the door and saw Harry standing there with his arm raised, ready to knock again.

"Harry! Come in, it's getting cold. Why are you up so early? It's...what time is it?" Draco asked, stifling another yawn. He stepped aside to let Harry in.

"It's nearly ten thirty, and Merlin, Draco, put some clothes on! No wonder you're cold, you're barely wearing anything." He laughed when Draco looked down and realised he was wearing nothing but the boxers he slept in.

"Oops, be right back. The living room's just down the corridor on the right, I'll see you in a sec."

Harry made his way slowly to the room that Draco had pointed out. He looked at the paintings decorating the corridor, thankful that they weren't like the portraits that he had seen in Malfoy Manor ten years ago. Instead, these depicted scenes with most of the magical creatures, like phoenixes, unicorns, centaurs and dragons, along with many others. He turned when he heard footsteps on the stairs.

"That's better." He grinned. "Still feeling cold?"

"Not as much," Draco admitted. "What're you looking at?" He went to stand next to Harry and looked up at the paintings, a faint smile on his face.

"These are brilliant." Harry pointed to the scenes laid out in front of him. "Who painted them?"

"Oh, just me," Draco replied nonchalantly.

"What?" Harry turned to stare at him. "Seriously, they're amazing. When did you start painting?"

"Around a year or two after the Battle." Draco led the way to the living room. "There was a lot of inspiration during it you know, with giants and centaurs running around everywhere. It wasn't hard to remember what they all looked like." When he didn't hear an answer, he looked back to see Harry silently following him with tears in his eyes, and remembered how many of his close friends had died that night.

"Oh crap, I'm really sorry Harry," he whispered. "I didn't mean to remind you of it." He wrapped his arms around the taller man's body, and they both stood there hugging while one comforted the other. Again, it was Draco who broke the silence.

"Harry, I need to ask you something..."

"What is it?" Harry wiped the remaining tears out of his eyes and tried to smile, but only managed a small twitch in the corner of his mouth.

"Are we going out?" Draco looked into Harry's eyes as he asked the question.

"Sure, why wouldn't we be? We both love each other, right?"

"Yeah, of course... I was just wondering, that's all." Draco pulled Harry into his arms again, leaning in to touch the other's lips with his own.

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><p><strong>AN: Ok, that's Chapter 2. Again, please review, even if it's just a sentence or two.**

**I'm sad to say that I won't be updating for the next 2-3 weeks, as I'm going on holiday, but I'll be writing as soon as I come back, so stick around! =)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to those who have stuck with this story, even when I went on holiday and stopped updating XD **

**Just to let you guys know, the next chapter after this will be the last one, so hopefully I'll get some new ideas soon =) Or... maybe you can all just send me some ideas of what to write, hehe.  
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**Warning: Slash**

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><p>Chapter 3 – Autumn<p>

He knocked on the door. It was the next day, and instead of Harry going round his, Draco decided to visit Harry in his own home. So when the door opened, he was rather surprised to see the face staring back at him.

"Hermione!" Draco blinked at her. "Err, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question, Draco." Hermione kept her eyes on him, with her hands on her hips.

"I came to see Harry. Is he in?" He tried to see past her but his view was blocked by the wild mane that was Hermione's hair. _She really should do something with her hair, it looks more like Hagrid's every day, _Draco thought to himself.

"What was that about my hair?" An icy voice broke Draco out of his thoughts, or rather, his mutterings.

"Ermm... nothing! When do you think Harry will be back?" He quickly diverted the conversation away from Hermione's hair. The brunette stared daggers at him before looking down at her watch.

"Probably around ten minutes."

"Is it alright if I come in and wait then?"

Again, Hermione kept her eyes on him as she wondered whether or not to let the grey-eyed man standing in front of her into the house. Finally, she nodded.

"I don't see why not." She stepped aside to let Draco in and shut the door. "This way." She led him into the living room, which was filled with stacks of books. It was clear that these weren't Harry's; he'd never read that much.

"Do you live here, Hermione?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh. Well I was just wondering, that's all. Anyone else apart from Harry?"

"Well, Ron lives with us too," Hermione said, just as someone came stomping down the stairs.

"Hey, 'Mione! I'm starving, what you got for breakfast?" a voice cried out. "Where are you?"

"Living room," Hermione replied simply. Draco watched as Ron walked through the door and stood still when he saw the blond.

"What's he doing here?" Ron nearly shouted after a moment of stunned silence.

"He's come to see Harry."

"Well why did he have to come in and wait?" The red-head was still staring at Draco, even though he wasn't talking to him.

"Why don't you just ask me? I _am_ here you know," Draco drawled, slipping back to his old Malfoy tone as he was confronted by a Weasley. Just then, however, the sound of a door opening and closing stopped whatever Ron was about to say.

"Hey guys, I'm back!" The sight of Harry walking in made Draco smile, as he always did when he saw his boyfriend. He frowned, the word _boyfriend_ still unfamiliar in his mind, and even more so when he spoke it out loud. "Draco! What are you doing here?" Harry asked when his eyes found Draco sitting there amongst the piles of books. In fact, the chair he was sitting on _was _a pile of books.

"I came to see you for a change."

"Great! This means that I won't have to say the same thing twice." Everyone's eyes turned to look at Harry in confusion. "I'm moving out." Ron and Hermione's eyes widened in disbelief and started to shout out different things at the same time.

"No –"

"Why are you –"

"You can't be –"

"Where are you going to go?" Hermione ended with a huff.

"Not far, just next door." As Harry said this, Draco gasped, realising what he meant, but the other two, not knowing who lived next door, had no clue.

"Harry, someone bought that house a few weeks ago. What are you talking about?" Ron asked, puzzled.

"Unless... you're moving in with the person? But that would mean we'd know that person ourselves." Hermione added.

"You do." Harry grinned. "Meet your neighbour, Draco Malfoy."

"How do you do?" Draco drawled, bowing at the stunned wizard and witch who were staring at him again. They could be stunned, as in magically stunned, and you couldn't tell the difference.

"Again, _what_?" Ron bellowed. Harry's grin faltered a little.

"Well, I mean, you two are going to be married soon, and I don't really want to come in between you guys, and Draco is basically my friend now –"

"Boyfriend." Draco cut in. _Wow, that word really _does_ taste weird on my tongue._

"Yes, well that too..." Harry was flustered now, looking at the ceiling, at the floor, out the window, anywhere but the other three.

"You can't be serious, Harry?" Hermione stepped forward when Draco burst out laughing, remembering Harry's joke about him being Sirius.

"Sorry." Draco's laughter faded away. "Carry on."

"Look Harry, I don't care if you're into blokes, just as long as it's not _him_." Ron spoke out, nodding at Draco at the last word.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Look, I'm moving out – or in, depending on which way you look at it – and nothing you say will stop me. You two need the space, especially when you have kids." Harry continued while both Hermione and Ron blushed at the last statement, for indeed they had been thinking about it for a while. While all this was going on, Draco was just thinking that he hated how Hermione and Ron, supposedly Harry's best friends, were turning against him all due to the fact that he's dating their once-enemy.

"Ugh... I'm turning into a Hufflepuff..." Draco muttered to himself. The other three stopped their argument to look at him.

"What was that, Draco?" Harry turned back to look at him.

"Oh, nothing. Look, maybe I should just go..." Draco stood up from the books, only to be pushed down again by Harry.

"You're not going anywhere until this... discussion... is sorted." Harry glared at the other two. Draco sighed as they started shouting at each other again. Clearly they weren't going to accept him into their group as Harry's boyfriend. Friend, maybe. But boyfriend? Definitely not. Seeing as how this would probably last all day, he started looking at the books around him. One of them could probably entertain him for a while, but after looking at several book titles, this was clearly not the case. _Making Sacrifices,_ one had on the front. _Make the Right Choice,_ said another. Maybe it was all these titles, but Draco started forming an idea in his head, one that included sacrifices and making the right choice.

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><p><strong>AN: So this was the second to last chapter... Tell me what you thought of it! I really appreciate those who have taken their time to write a review, however short. Also, PM me some ideas if you want, even if I get an idea myself. You never know, some of your ideas might inspire me to write something! Haha =) **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait for this! Turns out DocX was being weird and decided not to work for my beta =P**

**Thanks again, to eleventy7 for an amazing betaing job and sticking with me through these chapters, and to those who have reviewed and added this story to alerts.**** And as always, please take some time to write a review, it only takes 2 minutes!**

**So here it is, the last chapter! Hope you guys like it =)  
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><p>Chapter 4 – Winter<p>

Silvery-grey eyes looked at the sleeping body of Harry Potter lying next to him. He wanted to remember this moment forever, imprint it into his memory. He leaned over and kissed the faint outline of the lightning scar, just visible under the mop of black hair. He froze when the body under him stirred.

"Draco? What's up? What time is it?" Harry mumbled, half opening his eyes at the blond above him.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it. Go back to sleep, I'll wake you up later." Draco smiled sadly, stroking the other man's hair until he was sure that he was asleep again. Finally, with one last glance at Harry, he stepped off the bed and silently changed. Seemingly unable able to keep his eyes off the sleeping body, he stepped over to his desk, where he took out a quill and a piece of parchment.

Harry stirred for the second time that day. Except this time, no one was by his side, smiling down at him as he woke. _Where's Draco? I thought he said he'd wake me up,_ Harry thought to himself as he slipped out of the covers. He yawned and stretched, then reached down to grab his glasses, and, as he looked back up, he saw the parchment folded on the desk by the window. His heart sped up as he looked down at the name written on the front. _Harry, _it said, clearly in Draco's distinct handwriting. He didn't want to read what it said inside, but his hands disobeyed him and opened it up.

_Dear Harry,_

_I've decided to do the right thing for once in my pathetic life._

_I've noticed how you, Ron and Hermione don't get along as well as you used to, and I know how that's all my fault. Harry, I've really enjoyed my time with you, and I hope we can meet up again in the future. You made me feel useful, and not like I'm a waste of space in this world. You've taught me what good looks like, and it's you, Harry. You're perfect, but you really need your friends by your side when the time to fight comes again._

Harry tried blinking back the tears that threatened to fall, but failed as he read the words that the man he loved had written just this morning. He swept an arm across his eyes to clear his vision, and turned back to the parchment.

_Your friends still care for you; I can see it in their eyes, even when all of you argue about the most pointless things. Including me. I've come to the conclusion that two is better than one. There's no point in losing two of your best friends, friends since your first year at Hogwarts, just because of me. So it's better if you lost one, rather than two, of your friends._

_Don't worry about coming to find me, I've charmed the parchment to cast a modified Obliviate spell on you, one that will remove your memories of our time together (the happy ones of course, I'll let you remember the bad times we've had just so you won't get any sudden urge to find me), after you've finished this letter. Please read this to the end, Harry. For me._

He could already feel the charm starting to work its way into him, but it couldn't finish until he read the last few lines. He couldn't bring himself to do it though; he didn't want to forget about the time they were together. His eyes drifted down once more.

_Be strong, Harry. Love, Draco._

He gasped as the spell rushed straight into him, through his whole body. He could feel the memories slipping away even as he fought against it. No spell could stop it now. Harry sagged to the floor, leaning against the wall while tears leaked away along with memories.

A while later found Harry standing up, wondering why his cheeks were so wet. Maybe it was a dream or something. He quickly changed into his robes as he glanced at the clock, and saw that he was late for a meeting with Hermione next door. _I don't remember buying this house,_ thought Harry. _But I'll worry about that later. I'm _LATE_ for a meeting with Hermione. This is gonna be bad._ He grabbed a cookie from the kitchen as he went across to his best friend's house.

The parchment, forgotten on the desk, started to burn itself away, starting from the bottom.

"Hermione! I'm so sorry I'm late!" Harry started rambling as soon as the door was opened. "I slept in and forgot about this whole thing, I'm... sorry?" He trailed off when Hermione just stared at him.

"What are you doing here, Harry?"

Green eyes blinked at her. Did he do something wrong?

"Ermm... we agreed to meet here today, didn't we? And can I come in? It's getting cold."

"Yes, but... where's Draco?" Hermione asked as she moved aside to let Harry in.

"You mean Malfoy? Why would I know? Hopefully far away by now. Why did you even invite him to your party, Hermione?" Harry made his own way into the living room. "Where's Ron by the way?"

"I... ermm... what?" Hermione was clearly baffled by this abrupt change in Harry. Her mind was working full time to try and work out what had happened to him. _Ok, so he can't remember about our fight, and he seems to not remember the relationship he and Draco had. _Her eyes widened. _Of course! A memory removal! Seems to be a modified one as well. Whoever did this would have to be a pretty good wi... Surely Draco didn't do that to Harry?_

"Hermione? Hey, Hermione, you with us?" She snapped her head back up to see Harry and Ron looking at her with worry.

"Huh? Yes. Ron, could I speak with you for a moment? Privately," she added with a quick glance at a confused Harry. She dragged Ron over to the kitchen.

"What's wrong 'Mione?" Ron yawned, still tired, having just woken up.

"I think Draco took away Harry's memories of them together."

"Wait, what? I thought they were..." Ron screwed up his face. "Going out?"

"Yes, exactly. I can't think of any reason why he would do that."

"Well, we should thank him, because we've finally got Harry back and we don't have to look at that ferret ever again." He thought for a moment then added, "Hopefully."

"I guess you're right. Harry _is_ back to normal now. Let's get back before he starts wondering where we are." The couple went back to the living room to see Harry reading a book. _Sacrifices, _Hermione noted. _Good book._

"Hey, you ready now?" The man who they were talking about looked up as they came in. "So, when's the wedding?"

"Half a year's time." Ron looked over at Hermione, who was blushing. Harry laughed, then stopped abruptly.

"Harry, something wrong?" The two friends looked at each other before turning to Harry, wondering if he remembered something.

"No, just thought I saw something." _I swear I saw someone standing by the __window,_ Harry thought as he rubbed his eyes. He looked back and there was nothing there, just the empty road.

Draco cursed as he leant onto the wall. He couldn't let Harry see him, or he might remember everything and ruin his friendships once more. But he couldn't help it. Silvery-grey eyes looked through once more, almost hoping that green eyes would seek them out and lock onto them, never letting go.


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